We must make it clear to all parties concerned, including the Minister, that the Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua (SSS) or single-stream school system that we propose does not call for, or has any element of forcing other races “to sacrifice their characteristics and become Malays or Malaynised”.

We are surprised that the Minister chose to state his position of being against the single-stream school system when the Minister of Education-cum-Deputy Prime Minister has not announced the Government’s stand on the matter. In fact, we are astounded that the Minister chose to use words like “force” or “sacrifice their (non-Malays’) characteristics” or “become Malays“. We seriously wonder what he was thinking – if he was thinking – when he said those. The seriousness becomes acute considering that the Minister is a lawyer.

SSS is about the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in schools, in line with Article 152. We believe those who raised the matter and discussed it in Parliament some time back are thinking along the same line as we do.

The vernacular schools should use BM as the medium of instruction. Such schools can continue to exist physically but have BM as the medium of instruction and the same curriculum and syllabus as the national schools. Mandarin and Tamil can be taught in all such schools as “elective subjects” and such schools can be absorbed into the national schools system. It’s utterly irresponsible to talk about “forcing others to give up their own languages.“

The objective of single-stream schooling or SSS is to bring about a sense of togetherness, common identity, hopes and aspirations, beginning from the very young. These are extremely important for fostering unity, a sense of belonging, loyalty and patriotism among Malaysians, beginning with children at their formative ages.

The Sin Chew report says that Nazri said the government cannot compel all the races to learn only Bahasa Malaysia, forcing the non-Malays to give up their own languages. This is a totally skewed perception of the single-stream or SSS system. If the words used are not exactly those of the Minister, then it would have been a mischievous and irresponsible reporting and news publication. Nobody asks – and it is inconceivable that anybody does – ask the Government to “compel all races to learn only BM and forcing the non-Malays to give up their own languages.”

I agree with the opinion that this is an exploitation of the gullibility of the Minister, who has been known to jump up and down at statements made by others, irrespective of the standing and stature of such people, including former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir.

It appears that the Minister’s opinion was sought, on this specific subject, in this particular instance, of visiting China. The Editor must have been extremely pleased with the outcome. His readers happy, his newspaper sales assured.

To the chagrin of the proponents of the Sekolah Satu Aliran, who have raised the subject in Parliament, and to the promoters of Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua (SSS), who have put up this Kempen SSS blog. And their supporters – they say that at the last count, there were over 170 blogs supporting and displaying the SSS logo.

There are crooks and villians in any major story. Let the readers decide who they are in this story.

I also agree with the opinion that the PM was grand-standing when he announced that schools like the one he visited last week could carry on. But that was not a policy statement showing that a decision has been made on the subject of Sekolah Satu Aliran or SSS. He did indeed say that SSS may be implemented if the rakyat wants it. He has, to my knowledge, not even stated the measure or the means he would use to determine “if the rakyat wants it”.

I cannot imagine him saying he has made up his mind in that the rakyat does not want it simply based on the number of people writing to his 1Malaysia blog, or his walkabouts, even his visits to Chinese schools. He is more intelligent than that, more discerning than the average politician, certainly more astute than the jumping about Minister, who appears to have jumped to the conclusion that the PM has made a decision and wanted to echo the thunder even before the lightning appears.

The stakes are too high for the PM to reject the Sekolah Satu Aliran or SSS proposal. He may not have the gall to correct what has been wrong for over 52 years by implementing the SSS proposal now, but he is likely to lose more votes than those he hopes to gain by grand-standing and placating the non-Malays over the SSS issue if he were to reject it.

The statements made by the Minister as reported by the newspaper show that he hardly knows what Sekolah Satu Aliran or SSS is all about. His gullability is regrettable. The exploitation of the Minister’s gullability is also regrettable.

Obviously he has not read SSS FAQs Sheet etc. But didn’t he hear the discussion on the Sekolah Satu Aliran when it was raised in Parliament?
Isn’t he in charge of Parliamentary Affairs?

Then again, he didn’t have to be in Parliament often, did he? Even when the Budget was being deliberated on. When vote taking was done, the Budget passed by only 3 votes margin. What a shame.

Then again, does a man like this fellow know shame? He does not. He only speaks from power. He snorts like an overcharged bull. Don’t step on his path. He’d trample you. Even Tun Dr Mahathir. Calling the old man and Elder Stateman “Bapak Rasis”. Isn’t that what the Malays call kurang ajar?

Then again, he bothers not. He is well protected. By the boss. To him, nobody else counts. Except the boss. Well … let’s see when he loses that protection. There’s the Malay proverb pandai pandai tupai melompat …

In this case I must say there is a serious error in reasoning on the part of the Minisiter. As I understand it, those arguing for a single national stream with Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction is really arguing from the ‘national’ perspective in support of nation building( whether we agree with their specific arguments or not). Hence the question of forcing non-Malays to give up their characteristics or culture should not have been raised altogether. If I were to push the minister’s reasoning to its logical conclusion, advocating people to be Malaysians, to speak bahasa Malaysia, to support the monarchy, would all be ‘forcing’ the various races to be ‘Malays’. By the same token, the process of Malaysian nation building would be dubbed mistakenly as forced Malayisation at the cost of deculturation on the part of non-Malays.

With such understanding or the lack of it, our nation-building process would appear rather bleak or even doomed.

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